Postharvest Management Strategies

2016 ◽  
pp. 1987-2011
Author(s):  
Rohanie Maharaj ◽  
Dimple Singh-Ackbarali ◽  
Clement K. Sankat

Climate change will pose many challenges along the food value chain and will threaten not only food security but also poverty alleviation and economic growth in SIDS. Building resilient food systems for vulnerable farmers should focus not only on improving yields and on use of more suitable crops under changing climatic conditions but also on climate-smart postharvest adaptation strategies. In this chapter, strategies to raise awareness about climate change and its effects on postharvest losses are discussed. The authors recommend several actions: training of farmers to build functional adaptive capacity on the ground, increased investments in technological innovation, the continuous sharing of traditional/research-based knowledge with farmers and stakeholders in the food supply chains. Success will also depend on incentives, monitoring systems, appropriate application of approaches, tools and technologies, and involvement of farmers and policy makers. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this issue.

Author(s):  
Rohanie Maharaj ◽  
Dimple Singh-Ackbarali ◽  
Clement K. Sankat

Climate change will pose many challenges along the food value chain and will threaten not only food security but also poverty alleviation and economic growth in SIDS. Building resilient food systems for vulnerable farmers should focus not only on improving yields and on use of more suitable crops under changing climatic conditions but also on climate-smart postharvest adaptation strategies. In this chapter, strategies to raise awareness about climate change and its effects on postharvest losses are discussed. The authors recommend several actions: training of farmers to build functional adaptive capacity on the ground, increased investments in technological innovation, the continuous sharing of traditional/research-based knowledge with farmers and stakeholders in the food supply chains. Success will also depend on incentives, monitoring systems, appropriate application of approaches, tools and technologies, and involvement of farmers and policy makers. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this issue.


2014 ◽  
Vol 90 (04) ◽  
pp. 516-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Egginton ◽  
Fred Beall ◽  
Jim Buttle

In a forested catchment, river discharge in any season can be either decreased or augmented by forest management practices such as appropriate species selection, density management, and length of rotation. The efficacy of any such strategy in either new plantations or existing forests can be maximized by considering the distribution of the key hydrological functions in the catchment. With the growing awareness of climate change and its impacts, the adequacy of our water supply is becoming an issue of increasing societal importance. At the same time there is greater discussion about using our forests for carbon sequestration and biofuels. Policy-makers should be careful when introducing new programs that incentivize widespread reforestation. The implications of such planting programs on annual and seasonal river flows (under both current and future climatic conditions) need to be considered. Informed choices need to be made as to the objectives for which we manage our forests. In turn, this means that there is an urgent need for water managers and forest managers to work more closely together than in the past to optimally plan and develop forest and water management strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Vetter ◽  
Marianne Nylandsted Larsen ◽  
Thilde Bech Bruun

The rapid expansion of modern food retail encapsulated in the so-called ‘supermarket revolution’ is often portrayed as a pivotal driving force in the modernization of agri-food systems in the Global South. Based on fieldwork conducted on horticulture value chains in West Java and South Sulawesi, this paper explores this phenomenon and the concerted efforts that government and corporate actors undertake with regard to agri-food value chain interventions and market modernization in Indonesia. The paper argues that after more than 15 years of ‘supermarket revolution’ in Indonesia, traditional food retail appears not to be in complete demise, but rather adaptive and resilient to its modern competitors. The analysis of local manifestations of supermarket-led agricultural development suggests that traditional markets can offer certain advantages for farmers over supermarket-driven value chains. The paper further identifies and discusses two areas that have so far been neglected by research and policymaking and which warrant further investigation: (i) the simultaneous transformations in traditional food value chains and their relation to modern markets, and (ii) the social and environmental performances of modern vis-à-vis traditional food value chains.


Hydrology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kleoniki Demertzi ◽  
Dimitris Papadimos ◽  
Vassilis Aschonitis ◽  
Dimitris Papamichail

This study proposes a simplistic model for assessing the hydroclimatic vulnerability of lakes/reservoirs (LRs) that preserve their steady-state conditions based on regulated superficial discharge (Qd) out of the LR drainage basin. The model is a modification of the Bracht-Flyr et al. method that was initially proposed for natural lakes in closed basins with no superficial discharge outside the basin (Qd = 0) and under water-limited environmental conditions {mean annual ratio of potential/reference evapotranspiration (ETo) versus rainfall (P) greater than 1}. In the proposed modified approach, an additional Qd function is included. The modified model is applied using as a case study the Oreastiada Lake, which is located inside the Kastoria basin in Greece. Six years of observed data of P, ETo, Qd, and lake topography were used to calibrate the modified model based on the current conditions. The calibrated model was also used to assess the future lake conditions based on the future climatic projections (mean conditions of 2061-2080) derived by 19 general circulation models (GCMs) for three cases of climate change (three cases of Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The modified method can be used as a diagnostic tool in water-limited environments for analyzing the superficial discharge changes of LRs under different climatic conditions and to support the design of new management strategies for mitigating the impact of climate change on (a) flooding conditions, (b) hydroelectric production, (c) irrigation/industrial/domestic use and (d) minimum ecological flows to downstream rivers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5642
Author(s):  
Marcello Stanco ◽  
Concetta Nazzaro ◽  
Marco Lerro ◽  
Giuseppe Marotta

This paper contributes to the theoretical debate in agri-food economics on sustainable innovations. Specifically, it aims to define an interpretative model of sustainable innovation processes conceived at the supply chain level, and the determinants promoting these processes. The paper also proposes a best practice of sustainable collective innovation, namely the “Aureo” wheat supply chain. Sustainable collective innovation requires the commitment and involvement of all actors of the agri-food supply chain, while its effectiveness depends on the governance models adopted. The study findings validate the proposed theoretical framework, highlighting several economic, social, and environmental benefits that the process can provide. The results contribute to the debate on the topic, providing useful insights for practitioners and policy-makers.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1151
Author(s):  
Daniel Moreno-Fernández ◽  
Miguel A. Zavala ◽  
Jaime Madrigal-González ◽  
Francisco Seijo

Forests are intrinsically coupled to human dynamics, both temporally and spatially. This evolution is conditioned by global changes in climatic conditions (teleconnections) and distant socio-economical processes (telecoupling). The main goal of this study is to describe the teleconnections and telecoupling dynamics that have shaped structure and processes in a dry-edge—highly vulnerable to desertification—Mediterranean pine forest during the last century and to evaluate the contribution of historical management strategies to this coupled human and natural system’s (CHANS) overall resilience. For this study, we collected relevant human and natural system data from a dry edge Pinus pinaster Ait. located forest in Central Spain using a CHANS analytical framework operationalizing telecoupling and teleconnection. A key extractive economic activity in the studied forest was resin tapping, which was the main form of land use from the 1920s to the 1950s. Since the 1950s changes in the Spanish economy linked to the emergence of new resin-producing countries, such as China, led to a sharp decline in resin production. Despite additional human system transformations affecting forest governance (e.g., the Spanish Civil War, the transition to democracy, European integration, etc.) and changes in biophysical conditions linked to climate change (e.g., aridification, CO2 fertilization), the standing stocks of P. pinaster increased during the monitoring period due to sound technical and management planning bolstering overall resilience. These historical management decisions, we argue, successfully reconciled overall resilience goals (defined as the maintenance of forest function beyond and desertification avoidance) with three successive historical forest use challenges: intensive firewood collection by local communities in fragile sandy soils, extensive pastoralism in the forest understory and tradeoffs between resin tapping damaged trees, timber production and tree cover as well as the emerging risks of wildfire and climate change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3057
Author(s):  
Abid Hussain ◽  
Faisal Mueen Qamar ◽  
Lipy Adhikari ◽  
Asif Iqbal Hunzai ◽  
Atta ur Rehman ◽  
...  

This study investigated the mountain food systems in the Hindu Kush Karakoram Pamir Landscape (HKPL) in Pakistan. It analyzed the impacts of climate change on agriculture and livestock and identified key opportunities which can be tapped into to improve sustainability in food systems. The study applied a “multiple case studies approach” and collected data from four study sites at different altitudes, using the method of slow focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and non-participant observation. Findings revealed that the contribution of local agriculture and livestock to people’s food consumption has gradually declined, increasing their dependence on external food items. Local food systems are losing diversity, which has negatively impacted people’s dietary diversity. The youth has lost interest in agriculture due to low productivity and profitability in a high altitude village—Misgar (≈3200 m above sea level). In all sites, local people perceived mixed impacts (both positive and negative) of climate change on food systems. Climate change together with enhanced use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, high yielding seed, and improved farm management have positive, and climate-attributed increase in crop pest attacks has negative impact on crop productivity. Moreover, local people perceived negative impacts of climate change on pastures and water availability in traditional irrigation systems without significant influence on crop and livestock productivity. In food systems, these are needed to maximize benefits from the local potential for organic production, livestock integration, value chain development, traditional food crops, medicinal plants, and protected vegetables cultivation to reduce the vulnerability of food systems to climactic and economic shocks, and improve the sustainability.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Rasmussen ◽  
Jakob Thyrring ◽  
Robert Muscarella ◽  
Finn Borchsenius

Invasive allergenic plant species may have severe health-related impacts. In this study we aim to predict the effects of climate change on the distribution of three allergenic ragweed species (Ambrosiaspp.) in Europe and discuss the potential associated health impact. We built species distribution models based on presence-only data for three ragweed species, using MAXENT software. Future climatic habitat suitability was modeled under two IPCC climate change scenarios (RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5). We quantify the extent of the increase in ‘high allergy risk’ (HAR) areas, i.e., parts of Europe with climatic conditions corresponding to the highest quartile (25%) of present day habitat suitability for each of the three species. We estimate that by year 2100, the distribution range of all three ragweed species increases towards Northern and Eastern Europe under all climate scenarios. HAR areas will expand in Europe by 27–100%, depending on species and climate scenario. Novel HAR areas will occur mostly in Denmark, France, Germany, Russia and the Baltic countries, and overlap with densely populated cities such as Paris and St. Petersburg. We conclude that areas in Europe affected by severe ragweed associated allergy problems are likely to increase substantially by year 2100, affecting millions of people. To avoid this, management strategies must be developed that restrict ragweed dispersal and establishment of new populations. Precautionary efforts should limit the spread of ragweed seeds and reduce existing populations. Only by applying cross-countries management plans can managers mitigate future health risks and economical consequences of a ragweed expansion in Europe.


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